Deacon stepped out of the shower, toweled off his hair and splashed on some after shave. If he was going to come out to the world once again as Rayna Jaymes' leading man he was going to do with more style than his usual jeans and flannel shirt.

He pulled out a white shirt to go with his tux, but then quickly exchanged it for a black one. Don't want to be too traditional. This is Country music.

As he buttoned up his shirt he thought about last night when Rayna was unbuttoning it. Slowly unfastening the plastic from the surrounding material, she playfully released one with her teeth. God she's so hot.

He looked at the clock, 6:15pm. If he left now he'd have just enough time to drive over to her place and maybe recreate last night's scene before they had to head to the CMAs. Deacon couldn't believe how out of control he felt when it came to Rayna. It was just like when they were teenagers and they'd sneak away to that old barn off of Highway 65 near Franklin to make love.

He was reaching for his keys when there was a knock at the door. "Hmm, maybe she had the same idea as me."

But when he got to the door it was Maddie, not Rayna. At first he was thoroughly confused, Rayna wasn't with her and she was alone.

"Hey, what are you doing here? Are you ok?"

"I think…"

"What is it?"

Once he realized how shaken and upset she was he started to panic. Where was Rayna? Was she sick, injured? Worse? He tried to maintain his composure for the sake of the girl, but was thrown off kilter completely by what she said next.

"I think that you might be my father."

Deacon couldn't believe his ears. Did she just say that? Did he hear her right?

"What?"

It's not that he hadn't fantasized about being her father hundreds of times over the last 13 year, raising a family with Rayna, but he never imagined it could be true. He tried to think back to see if it was even a biological possibility, but he was so drunk during that period that everything was fuzzy.

He'd been standing there for what seemed like an eternity trying to process when he realized that Maddie was still standing there.

"Come on in sweetheart, let's talk about this."

Deacon paid for her cab then escorted her into his house. They walked into his living room and sat down, he on his couch and she in his leather chair. He was totally freaking out, but he just wanted to stay as calm as possible for Maddie's sake. Plus, it probably wasn't even true. Maybe she'd had a fight with Teddy and was just fantasizing that her mom's new guitar player boyfriend was her real father rather than stuffy Teddy. But she was visibly shaken, this seemed a little more serious than a school girl fantasy.

"Now what makes you think that I'm your father?"

At this Maddie reached into her bag and pulled out a paper.

"This. It's a medical report dated February 2000. It says that they did a DNA test on Maddie Conrad and Teddy Conrad and that he is not my biological father. You guys used to date just before she married Dad, right?"

Deacon was flustered, he wasn't sure how to react. He was in a state of total shock. He took the paper from her shaky hand and looked at it. This wasn't a note written on a throwaway piece of paper, it was an official report from Vanderbilt Hospital, and it said exactly what Maddie said it did.

"Where did you get this Maddie?"

"In a box, in mom's closet. I know she keeps important things in there, I've seen her go in it a few times to get stuff out like our birth certificates and our social security cards."

Deacon nodded his head, it's about all he could handle at that moment.

"Well? Do you think you could be my father?"

"I mean, it's possible. I was dating your mamma back then, but there must be some other explanation to this. I know your mamma. I've known her for over 20 years. She wouldn't lie to me about something as big as this. It's just not in her nature. "

Deacon wanted to believe that more than anything in the world, but when he looked down at the paper again there was really no other explanation. It did clearly state that Teddy could not be Maddie's father, and whatever revelations he was learning about Rayna tonight, he knew she wasn't into flings, and Maddie couldn't have been the product of a one night stand with a stranger.

The girl had rock solid deduction skills. If Teddy wasn't here father, than it must be him. But he wasn't ready to contemplate the implications of what that really meant yet.

He looked at the clock and it said 7:15. He and Rayna were supposed to be at the show by 7:00pm.

"Damn, I forgot to get Rayna."

He was supposed to pick her up, walk her down the red carpet. He felt bad for a second, but it was more for the lost moment of happiness he had been looking forward to since last night when Rayna told him she was ready to let the world know that she belonged to him. At the moment that feeling of regret was being quickly pushed away by shock and anger. He had to get to the show, he had to confront her, figure out what was really going on, but first he had to handle Maddie.

"Sweetheart, I'll get to the bottom of this, I promise. I have to head over to the CMA Awards. I'm supposed to play."

"With her?"

"Yeah, with your mamma. But I promise I'll talk to her about his tonight. Let me drive you home."

"OK, thanks."

The two climbed into Deacon's SUV to head back to Rayna's house. As they drove he looked over at Maddie. Could she really be his daughter? Could he have had this car trip a thousand times before with her as he drove her to school for the first time, her first ballet recital. The more he thought about it, the more firsts, seconds, and lasts he realized that he had missed, that had been stolen from him…by Rayna.

By the time he arrived at their house he was building up quite a resentment. He looked around to make sure Rayna's SUV wasn't in the driveway, which luckily it wasn't. She must have left for the CMAs without him. When Maddie opened the door to leave he felt the need to be as fatherly as he could.

"I'll get to the bottom of this darlin', but if it is true and you are my daughter, I'm pretty lucky. "

"Thanks," the teen managed to get out between tears.

He watched her as she ran into the house and closed the door. Sitting alone in his Suburban Deacon wasn't sure what to do. He wanted to get to the show as fast as he could to confront Rayna about this, but at the same time he wanted to put off the conversation as long as possible. What if it were true? How could he live knowing Rayna had betrayed him like this? He felt the tears starting to form in his eyes, but managed to brush them away. He loved her so much.

He'd given up hope of ever being happy again until that night on his porch when she told him she loved him. Now, that all seemed to be slipping through his fingers like sand. He guessed he was right, he and happiness didn't get along so well. He should have known something was bound to go wrong.

When he arrived at the auditorium he pulled himself together, grabbed his guitar, and headed backstage. He checked his watch again, damn, 7:55. They were supposed to go on at 8:00. He was going to have to wait to have the conversation until after the show.

When he got backstage he saw her standing there joking around with Brad Paisley, flirting as if she didn't have a care in the world. How dare she be happy when their whole relationship had been a lie. He wanted to go up to her grab her and make her tell him it wasn't true, that there was some logical explanation, but instead he thought ignoring her until after the show was the best plan of attack. He wasn't good at pretending everything was okay when it wasn't. Putting on a happy face was never his forte. When he heard Brad ask, "where's Deacon?" he took a deep breath and walked up to them.

"Right here."

Brad needled him a bit, "We're the ones allowed to be late here."

He laughed trying to be as normal as possible around Brad.

"Sorry."

Just then Rayna walked over.

"Hey."

"Hey."

"I thought you were picking me up?"

"I got waylaid."

And with that he walked out on stage and away from the love of his life.